Big Red. No, not me.

Bob and I saw Conan O’Brien last night in Denver. Since getting kicked off the Late Show he embarked on a comedy tour. It was called the “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour. I knew he was tall because he always pokes fun at himself, but holy cow he was really tall with self-proclaimed long spider legs. He also sported his signature red puffy wave of hair.

I didn’t realize how musical Conan is. Throughout the show he would perform with the band. He’d play guitar and the keyboard and he is pretty good. He would change lyrics to well-known songs to reflect the drama he is involved in with Jay Leno and the Tonight Show. Oddly enough, he never once mentioned Jay Leno’s name, but we assume it is for legal reasons. Here is his band:

Partway through the show he brought out a surprise. The Fray! It was an acoustic performance with just the piano and guitar. They played “Over My Head” (Cable Car), and “You Found Me”. They are from Denver so it was nice to have a local famous act perform.

Rockband

For those of you that have never heard of the game Rockband- it is the newest video game craze these days. Bob’s friend Carlos invited us to his house to indulge in a few beers and to attempt playing plastic instruments. The guitar and bass were stringless- just a handful of color-coded buttons and about 1/3 of the size of actual instruments. The drum kit was 4 circular pads and a kick drum, also color-coded.

We had a selection of songs to choose from by The Police, Alice in Chains and  Weezer- just to name a few. It is hard to describe the talent in the room, so it is best showed in the video below:

Look out, world! I feel a Grammy award coming on.


Rock Band Party from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

I love Susan Tedeschi

I first saw Susan tedeschi in concert close to 10 years ago. She was playing at the Lilac Festival in Rochester and it was free to watch her. After playing her CD’s a buzzillion times, I saw her live in concert again- this time, she was the opening act for Etta James. No offense to the lovely Etta James, but I was more impressed with Susan’s performance.

Bob and I headed to the lovely Paramount Theater last night to check out Ms. Susan Tedeschi. James Hunter opened up for her. Though I had never heard his music before (that I know of) I was impressed. He had a British accent and a soulful voice and sounded like Sam Cooke a bit. After a 45 minute set by James and his band, Susan came on stage!

She stepped out wearing a sparkly haulter top, black skirt, and what appeared to be 2″ heels. Looking all dainty she strapped on her guitar and pounded a distortion pedal with her lady-like shoe then belted out her song. For a minute it sounded like I was giving a fashion-show play by play, but the juxtoposition amused me because she could look so girly but completely belt out the blues and played music.

She played some songs from her new album and some old crowd favourites such as Hurt So bad and Rock me Right. She did some nifty covers as well- Don’t Think Twice (Bob Dylan), Angel From Montgomery (John Prine), and in the Middle of Angel From Montgomery she sang a little bit of Sugaree by the Dead- which was an immediate crowd pleaser.

I can’t even start to tell everyone how fantastic she is, so check her out on Youtube: